Mobile Users More Likely To Buy On iOS Than Android

Mobile device users are 30 percent more likely to purchase a product on Apple’s iOS than Google’s Android, according to a recent study from Forrester (via TechCrunch). The study, which surveyed some 58,000 mobile device users in the United States, found that businesses are therefore targeting both iOS and Android ahead of Microsoft’s Windows Phone or Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry mobile operating systems.

In addition to the above, Forrester also found that iOS users are 15 percent more likely to conduct product research on a smartphone or tablet computer than Android users, rendering Apple’s mobile operating system an environment indeed worth targeting. However, as TechCrunch explains:

But despite the discrepancy, companies are still targeting both platforms en masse. The survey also found that 99 percent of ebusiness professionals surveyed during the study intended to launch either a native or hybrid iOS app by the end of 2013, and 96 percent were also targeting the same for Android. Beyond Goole and Apple, however, there’s a very steep drop off in interest, and only larger companies with big budgets are really looking further afield at companies and platforms like BlackBerry and Windows Mobile.

With 56 percent of companies having less than $1 million in their mobile budgets, and 41 percent holding on to less than $500,000, only big companies find themselves concentrating on Windows Phone and BlackBerry, as well as iOS and Android.

What’s more, with regular changes being made to iOS and Android, developers need to invest more into their development for each mobile OS, leaving less cash to be spent elsewhere. In this sense, mobile fragmentation ultimately serves to help both Apple and Google, as TechCrunch concludes:

The more resources developers have to devote to catering to those top two platforms, the fewer they have available to spread out on a third or fourth horse, to the continued detriment of smaller players like BlackBerry and Microsoft. It’s easy to paint fragmentation as a problem, and in terms of developer time and spend, it definitely is, but holding on to the market lead may be an unintended consequence for the mobile top dogs.